Week 3 Reading;
Kagan, Spencer 1994
'Social Skills Development'
In : Cooperative learning / Spencer Kagan. San Clemente, Calif. : Kagan Cooperative
Learning, 1994. Chapter 14, pp. 14:1-14:16
Trainers in cooperative learning differ dramatically in their approaches to cooperative skill development:
*there are those who provide almost no instruction in social skills, with the belief that skills will be
acquired naturally in the process of social interaction.
*there are those who emphasize social skills as a defining component of a cooperative learning lesson, and recommend including, with each lesson, formal instruction in a social skill. With the *Structured Natural Approach a middle-ground is taken: A Skill-of-the-Week is adopted.
Formal and Natural Approaches to Skill Development
Formal Language Approach: Foreign students can complete degrees without acquiring language knowledge. They simply memorize vocabulary words, conjugations of verbs, and grammar structures. They pass the tests. And then, one unhappy day, they get in a situation in which they actually have to speak the language. At that point, they find that learning about the language in a formal approach was very little help.
Natural Language Approach: Children learn to speak by speaking. They learn in the natural approach -- in the context of negotiating meaning during meaningful interactions.
This analogy of language acquisition can also stand for social skills acquisition: For years our traditional approaches to the acquisition of social skills has failed. Students memorize the eight major approaches to conflict resolution. For example, one day they pass the test on the topic, the next day they get into a conflict, and beat each other up! Learning about social skills is not the same as acquiring social skills.
Cooperative learning provides a golden opportunity for students to acquire social skills in the natural approach. As the students Interact in their cooperative groups, they become skilful in listening, paraphrasing, taking the role of the other, managing group processes, and dealing with the dominant, shy, hostile, and withdrawn group members. They acquire skills: not just learn about
skills.
When Groups or Teams Fail
When cooperative learning teams fail) it is almost always for one of two reasons:
1 - the students don't want to work together or
2 - the students don’t know how to work together.
Cooperative learning teams have problems either because the students lack the will to work together or the skill to work together.
Will to Work Together
Lack can be overcome by team building activities.
Students are intentionally assigned to work with people they wouldn’t select themselves.
We avoid having teams of high achievers and teams of low, teams of one race and teams one another. Through heterogeneous teams, we improve cross-race relations, tutoring and management.
Some students refuse to work together. This is where team building can help – activities like building team shelters together) designing team T-Shirts) flying the team airplane, and supporting each other through a blind walk as to word through their resistance. This will help students feel like part of a team and feel a strong sense of belonging and identity: a desire to be with and work with their teammates.
Skill to Work Together
After students have the will to work together they need to acquire the skills.
The list of problems is long. The students do not know how to overcome these problems because nothing in the traditional curriculum gave them cooperative skills. The will to work together is no substitute for the skill to work together.
Lack of Social Skills indicate area in need to be taught in curriculum.
Problems and Curriculum Needed
Teams are
• Too noisy - Inner Voices
• Off-task – Task mastering
• Without clear goals - Setting, Revising Agendas
• In conflicts .- Conflict Resolution Skills
• Bogged down - Cheerleading, Brainstorming Students
• Give put-downs - Praising
• Tell answers- Helping Skills
• Talk all at once.- Gatekeeping
• Don't ask for help - Questioning Skills
• Don't offer help - Helping Skills
• Don't listen to others. - Listening Skills
• Grab - Requesting
• Don't express appreciations- Appreciating
• Don't respect opinions – Paraphrasing
One Student Does it all - Gatekeeping
• Does little - Encouraging, Gatekeeping
• Is too shy ..- Encouraging, Praising
• Refuses to work - Encouraging, Praising
• Is bossy - Gatekeeping
• Is hostile - Conflict Resolution Skills
Why Social Skills Instruction?
to make our cooperative learning groups function well
to prepare our students with essential tools for success in work and life - Today, social
skills define success.
Seven Steps Of;
The Structured Natural Approach 1. Set up a Social Skills Centre - 2. Select a Skill Each Week 3. Introduce the "Skill-of-the-Week)) 4. Assign Rotating Roles & Develop Gambits 5. Structure for Skill 6. Model and Reinforce Skill
Seven Steps Of;
The Structured Natural Approach 1. Set up a Social Skills Centre - a place to record and post the name of Skill-of-the Week,
the name of the Role-of-the-Week, and the gambits associated with the Skill. 2. Select a Skill Each Week – examine the functioning of teams in your classroom and select the one social skill they are most in need of acquiring. When we see that the students are getting off task, putting each other down, telling answers, and getting too noisy, we would not dream of trying to teach all the lacking social skills at once. So we choose a Skill-of-the-Week. The first week we will work on Praising; week two, Inner Voices; week three, Staying On Task; week four Giving Good Helpers) and so on. If by week five the students are not using many praisers, we will work on that skill again, posting again the old gambit charts.
Just as recycling and review is an integral part of learning academic content, so too is it an integral part of learning social skills. 3. Introduce the "Skill-of-the-Week)) - There are a number of ways to introduce the
Skill-of-the-Week to the students) including the following:
*Teacher Talk. You might simply say to students that you are not comfortable with the noise level in the classroom and so you have decided to make talking with "Inner voices" the next Skill-of-the-Week.
*Ask "What if?" Ask students to think about what would happen if the skill were never used. For examples) "I have been noticing that you have been working hard in your groups, but we seldom stop to appreciate each other's efforts. What would happen if we never got appreciation for our efforts?"
Students Discuss & Share.. Have students talk over the importance of the skill in their teams, sharing their conclusions with other teams or with the class as a whole. Have teams share via one of the information sharing structures such as Blackboard Share or Teams Compare.
Simulations - One of my favorite ways of introducing a role is through simulations. For
example, when I was introducing the importance of having a Taskmaster, I gave all the
teams a difficult puzzle to solve. I then told them they would have "Secret Roles." All the Number 1students came up and I handed them their role cards. Then the number two students received their role, and so 00. They were instructed to keep their role assignments
secret and not to discuss their roles with anyone. What the students did not know was that in all of the teams one student was assigned the role of Off-Task Captain, but in only half the teams was there a Taskmaster!
Their role cards looked like this:
Off-Task Captain «Try to get the group off the task. Without getting wild or obnoxious, attempt to distract the group by talking about interesting things other than the puzzle. Do not let anyone on your team know your role, and try to act in a way they do not discover your assignment.
Taskmaster - Your job is to keep the group on task. If anyone distracts the group, simply get everyone to pay attention to the task by saying things like, "This puzzle is really interesting," "Do you think we will be able to solve the puzzle before the time is up?" Keep your role secret so no one on the team knows you have been assigned the role of Taskmaster.
Later as we reflected on what happened in the teams, it was clear that those teams with a taskmaster spent much more time on task. The simulation worked also to generate a variety of successful. Taskmaster Gambits which the students shared with the class. 4. Assign Rotating Roles & Develop Gambits – (Tool 1 – Roles and Gambits) –
Social Skills and Corresponding Social Roles
I. Encouraging Others ••••..•••••••••••• Encourager
2. Praising Others ••••••.•.•••.•..•..• Praiser
3. Celebrating Accomplishments ••••.• Cheerleader
4. Equalizing Participation.••.•••••••• Catekee~er
5. Helping •.••.•••••••••.••••••••..•• Coach
6. Asking for Help •••••.•.•.•••••••••. Question Commander
7. Checking for Understanding .•..•..• Checker
8. Staying on Task •••••.•••••••.•••••. Taskmaster
9. Recording Ideas•••••.• It •••••••••••• Recorder
10. Reflecting of Group Progress ••••••• Reflector
11. Not Disturbing Others ••••••••.••.• Quiet Captain
12. Efficiently Distributing Materials •.. Materials Monitor
Assign a Role-of-the-Week .associated with the Skill-of-the-Week. Each student will get a turn at the role because it rotates each day: Monday, the role is given to Student I, Tuesday, Student 2, Wednesday, Student 3, and Thursday, Student 4.
If the Skill-of-the-Week is Staying On Task, the Role-of-the-Week will be Taskmaster.
If the skill is Showing Appreciating, the role will be Praiser.
The Role of the Week is posted in the Social Skills Center, along with the gambits associated
with the role. Generate and Record Gambits. Students will not know how to fulfill their role unless they have positive models of what to do and say. Students need to know what it "Sounds Like" and "Looks Like" to fill the role well - the gambits for the role. Gambits are the verbal and non-verbal behaviors which allow role fulfillment. It is not the job of the teacher to generatethese gambits, but rather to lead students in generating and recording
the gambits. Through gambit development students learn how to solve social skill problems and how to fulfill roles, For example, if the skill is Staying on Task, the Role would. be Taskmaster, and the students and teacher would post those gambits which would facilitate being a good Taskmaster. Students learn that a good Taskmaster does not say, "Stop talking about the big game." Rather, they learn to· say, "The big game is really interesting, but if we are going to complete our project in time, we need to...." Students learn that one of the best gambits for a Taskmaster is to simply talk about the task in an interesting way. Rather than saying, "We are off task," they say, "Problem three really looks interesting. Do you think the answer could be related to ...?" Some of the techniques for generating and recording gambits follow:
*Post Gambit Chart: Once the gambits have been generated, the teacher posts them on the gambit chart in the Social Skills Center. As. new gambits are generated during the week, the teacher adds them to those initially posted when the skill was first introduced.
*Teacher Models Gambits: You may model the role· for the class. A strong strategy is to model the role correctly, then incorrectly, and have students in teams discuss the difference. For example, you might contrast weak versus strong
*Gatekeeper gambits, e.g., Weak: "John, you are talking too much; Susan, talk more." Strong: "That's interesting John; Susan, do you agree?" It is probably a good idea to finish your modeling on a positive note: End by modeling strong, positive gambits.
*A Team Models Gambits: Get one team "up on.the role" by working with them while the other teams are busy on another task. The selected team then can serve as a model to demonstrate the role. For example, you might have one team member pretend not to know how to solve a problem. and have the "Coach" model how to help a student solve a problem without doing it for him. Choose one of the weakest teams to model for the class and they will gain in status anD will acquire the role at a level they might not otherwise.
*Teacher Plays dumb: Tell students, "I have been noticing that we have beengetting off-task while working on ourprojects, so <Staying on Task' will be our next .skill of the week. But I am not so sure what you would say or do in your teams if you saw someone off task. Putyour heads together and discuss what you might say or do to get the team or ateammate back on track. What could we put on our Gambit Charts?"
Thinking Skills Structures. Have students generate gambits for the Gambit Chart.
Structured Role Plays:
One of the most powerful ways of learning new behavior or changing old behavior
is to practice the desired behavior in a context similar to the one in which the behavior
actually will be used. In China, teachers make extensive use of structured, teacher-writ
ten and directed role-plays to help students recognize and learn appropriate helping and cooperating behaviors. Through structured role-play students practice the proper response to various situations, such as returning a lost object, or asking permission to borrow something. 5. Structure for Skill (Tool 2: Structures & Structuring) Structures. Quite a number of structures are useful for skill development. For example, if students are working on the skill of Equal Participation, the structure of choice would be Talking Chips. For Praising, use Affirmation Chips.
Many times it is possible to structure a cooperative learning task so that the acquisition of social skills is an integral part of the learning experience, or necessary for task completion. Structuring for a Skill: Let's say the skill is listening. To structure for increased listening,
if the task is an essay or report about fun vacation activities, the teacher might require that each student write about the fun activities of someone else on the team. This structuring of the task
ensures that interviewing and listening skills are developed.
High v. Low Structuring
Low Structuring: "In your teams take turns, asking each person questions.»
High Structuring: "Teammate NumberI, stand up. You have exactly three minutes to be interviewed by your teammates. If you are doing the interviewing, you may ask one question, but you many not ask a second question until each of your teammates has asked
their question."
It is generally a good idea to move from high to low structuring as students acquire the social, cognitive, and linguistic skills necessary to cooperate in situations with low structuring.
Systematically destructuring for internationalization allows students to internalize cooperative skills and to become cooperative rather than just to behave cooperatively. 6. Model and Reinforce Skill (Tool 3: Modeling & Reinforcement)
The Skill-of-the-Week is modeled and reinforced in a variety of ways during the week.
By Teacher. The Social Skills Center is a reminder) not just for the students, but for the teache as welL If the Skill-of-the-Week is praising, the teacher is sure to model many forms of praising during the week. If the skill is Equal Participation) the teacher himlherselfwill use good Gatekeeping Gambits while working with the students.
To model a skill for a team or for the whole class, the teacher may briefly join a team to
model the behavior. Model Groups. If a desired behavior is not being used, a teacher may wish to work with a group on the behavior until they are proficient, and then have the team model the behaviour for the whole class.
Spontaneous Models. During the week the teacher is looking for good use of the skill.
Without formal observations, the teacher simply notes when a skill has been used well.
At that time the teacher would say something like, ((Class, I would all like you to hear what I just heard -- Johnny just used a wonderful gambit to paraphrase. He said, CIt seems to me you are saying....' Let's add that gambit to our Gambit Chart."
If you have a Social-Skill-of-the-Week, you are looking for examples of the use of that
skill to hold up as a model for the rest of the class. So, for example, if the Skill-of-theWeek is Staying on Task, you might get the attention of the class somewhere during the lesson and then say something like, eel have been watching the Astronauts for awhile, and I am really impressed how well they have been staying on task. At one point they started to talk about recess, but than got right back on task. Nice job, Astronauts! You are doing a great job at our new skill for
this week." If the skill were praising and encouraging, the teacher might say, "I just heard and saw a great praiser. Susan wpuld you please let the whole class hear what you just told Sally
and show them the silent round of applause you just gave?" "Notice how Susan smiled
and looked right at Sally as she told her what a great job she was doing."
7. Reflect on Skill (Tool 4: Reflection & Planning) Students need time to reflect on how well
they are using the Skill-of-the-Week. There are a variety of ways of promoting reflection.
*Reflection Questions
For Helping
Did I give help when asked?
Did I ask for help if I needed it?
What help was most helpful?
For Praising
What praise did I give?
What praise did I receive?
What praise felt good?
Integration with the Social Skills Center. During the reflection time, a link is made to the Social Skills Center by asking questions like) "Look at the Gambit Chart. Did you hear or see any of those gambits so far today?» "Have you heard any new gambits today which we can add to our Gambit Charts?"
Structures for Reflection. Reflection can be facilitated by using information sharing structures such as Roundrobin (each one says one Gambit they heard or wished they had heard); Think-Pair-Share ("How much encouragement have we shown each other?); Three-Step Interview (students are interviewed on how they feel the team is doing on the Skill of the Week); and Brainstorming (students come up with ideas about how they could use the skill more).
Student Self-Monitoring. Without a doubt one of the most effective ways of producing change is through self-evaluation. Having family members view themselves interact) and rate their own individual interactions on video tape is a powerful technique in family therapy -- it leads to improvement of family dynamics.
Although not many teachers have the resources to video tape individual students and teams ac and interact) and then to allow them to rate their own interactions, self-monitoring and evaluation forms may be the next best thing.
The Teammate Observer. One student on each team has the role of observer. His/her job for the day is to focus on a specific social skill such as encouragement among teammates.
The observer that day may use an observation form to mark down each instance of encouragement and its source, so that good use of that skill is recognized among teammates.
Observation Form.
Class observers. Individuals may be selected to observe the good use of gambits and skills, with the aim of fostering thoughtful reflection based on the information they provide. Sometimes you may choose individuals low on a particular skill to observe that skill, providing them useful modelling experiences. Team Observers. Occasionally a teacher may want teams as a whole to serve as observers for each other. A team may be asked to stand around another team in a
fishbowl format, with observation sheets. When the team is finished with the learning
activity, the observing team can give them input regarding the social skills under observation.
Teacher Observations. Reflection time can be facilitated by the teacher sharing an observation
or observations regarding how well the Skill-of-the-Week is being used. Often it is best for teachers to simply share an observation and leave the teams take responsibility for what is to be done about it. For example, the teacher may simply say,
"One person in this group seems to be doing most of the talking, take a moment to talk over how well you are using your skill of Gatekeeping, and what you need to do." or, "Today, in some teams I saw people raising their hands to state the team opinion before checking for consensus with all their teammates." Teacher Time Samples. If a teacher stands by each team for one minute and records each instance of the use of a skill, after two rounds, there will be a pretty good sample of how much the skill is being used and by which groups. Time Sample forms are simple to make.
Formal Reflection Forms. Although the informal reflection question focused on the
skill of the week is probably the most powerful way to promote reflection, various observation
and reflection forms can help as well. The students may fill out the forms individually and then compare answers with their teammates, or they may attempt to reach consensus as a group filling out one form for the team. Samples of typical reflection forms for various skills at various grade levels follow. Notice, the best reflection forms do not have students reflect on more than
one skill at a time. Popular Reflection Forms which have students answer questions
about staying on task, use of quiet voices, mutual support, equal participation, and
help giving all on one form are probably of very limited value. These forms are like having
students work on their addition, subtraction, multiplication, division, and logic skills
all at once! The power of reflection is revealed when it is an integral part of the plan
to deliver one Skill-of-the-Week.
Four Tools of The Structural Natural Approach Tool 1: Roles & Gambits ~ Tool 2: Structures &Structuring Tool 3: Modelling & Reinforcement Tool 4: Reflection &Planning
Kagan, Spencer 1994
'Social Skills Development'
In : Cooperative learning / Spencer Kagan. San Clemente, Calif. : Kagan Cooperative
Learning, 1994. Chapter 14, pp. 14:1-14:16
Trainers in cooperative learning differ dramatically in their approaches to cooperative skill development:
*there are those who provide almost no instruction in social skills, with the belief that skills will be
acquired naturally in the process of social interaction.
*there are those who emphasize social skills as a defining component of a cooperative learning lesson, and recommend including, with each lesson, formal instruction in a social skill. With the *Structured Natural Approach a middle-ground is taken: A Skill-of-the-Week is adopted.
Formal and Natural Approaches to Skill Development
This analogy of language acquisition can also stand for social skills acquisition: For years our traditional approaches to the acquisition of social skills has failed. Students memorize the eight major approaches to conflict resolution. For example, one day they pass the test on the topic, the next day they get into a conflict, and beat each other up! Learning about social skills is not the same as acquiring social skills.
Cooperative learning provides a golden opportunity for students to acquire social skills in the natural approach. As the students Interact in their cooperative groups, they become skilful in listening, paraphrasing, taking the role of the other, managing group processes, and dealing with the dominant, shy, hostile, and withdrawn group members. They acquire skills: not just learn about
skills.
When Groups or Teams Fail
When cooperative learning teams fail) it is almost always for one of two reasons:
1 - the students don't want to work together or
2 - the students don’t know how to work together.
Cooperative learning teams have problems either because the students lack the will to work together or the skill to work together.
Will to Work Together
Skill to Work Together
Lack of Social Skills indicate area in need to be taught in curriculum.
Problems and Curriculum Needed
Teams are
- • Too noisy - Inner Voices
- • Off-task – Task mastering
- • Without clear goals - Setting, Revising Agendas
- • In conflicts .- Conflict Resolution Skills
- • Bogged down - Cheerleading, Brainstorming Students
- • Give put-downs - Praising
- • Tell answers- Helping Skills
- • Talk all at once.- Gatekeeping
- • Don't ask for help - Questioning Skills
- • Don't offer help - Helping Skills
- • Don't listen to others. - Listening Skills
- • Grab - Requesting
- • Don't express appreciations- Appreciating
- • Don't respect opinions – Paraphrasing
One Student Does it all - GatekeepingWhy Social Skills Instruction?
- to make our cooperative learning groups function well
- to prepare our students with essential tools for success in work and life - Today, social
skills define success.Seven Steps Of;
The Structured Natural Approach
1. Set up a Social Skills Centre -
2. Select a Skill Each Week
3. Introduce the "Skill-of-the-Week))
4. Assign Rotating Roles & Develop Gambits
5. Structure for Skill
6. Model and Reinforce Skill
Seven Steps Of;
The Structured Natural Approach
1. Set up a Social Skills Centre - a place to record and post the name of Skill-of-the Week,
the name of the Role-of-the-Week, and the gambits associated with the Skill.
2. Select a Skill Each Week – examine the functioning of teams in your classroom and select the one social skill they are most in need of acquiring. When we see that the students are getting off task, putting each other down, telling answers, and getting too noisy, we would not dream of trying to teach all the lacking social skills at once. So we choose a Skill-of-the-Week. The first week we will work on Praising; week two, Inner Voices; week three, Staying On Task; week four Giving Good Helpers) and so on. If by week five the students are not using many praisers, we will work on that skill again, posting again the old gambit charts.
Just as recycling and review is an integral part of learning academic content, so too is it an integral part of learning social skills.
3. Introduce the "Skill-of-the-Week)) - There are a number of ways to introduce the
Skill-of-the-Week to the students) including the following:
*Teacher Talk. You might simply say to students that you are not comfortable with the noise level in the classroom and so you have decided to make talking with "Inner voices" the next Skill-of-the-Week.
*Ask "What if?" Ask students to think about what would happen if the skill were never used. For examples) "I have been noticing that you have been working hard in your groups, but we seldom stop to appreciate each other's efforts. What would happen if we never got appreciation for our efforts?"
- Students Discuss & Share.. Have students talk over the importance of the skill in their teams, sharing their conclusions with other teams or with the class as a whole. Have teams share via one of the information sharing structures such as Blackboard Share or Teams Compare.
- Simulations - One of my favorite ways of introducing a role is through simulations. For
example, when I was introducing the importance of having a Taskmaster, I gave all theteams a difficult puzzle to solve. I then told them they would have "Secret Roles." All the Number 1students came up and I handed them their role cards. Then the number two students received their role, and so 00. They were instructed to keep their role assignments
secret and not to discuss their roles with anyone. What the students did not know was that in all of the teams one student was assigned the role of Off-Task Captain, but in only half the teams was there a Taskmaster!
Their role cards looked like this:
Off-Task Captain «Try to get the group off the task. Without getting wild or obnoxious, attempt to distract the group by talking about interesting things other than the puzzle. Do not let anyone on your team know your role, and try to act in a way they do not discover your assignment.
Taskmaster - Your job is to keep the group on task. If anyone distracts the group, simply get everyone to pay attention to the task by saying things like, "This puzzle is really interesting," "Do you think we will be able to solve the puzzle before the time is up?" Keep your role secret so no one on the team knows you have been assigned the role of Taskmaster.
Later as we reflected on what happened in the teams, it was clear that those teams with a taskmaster spent much more time on task. The simulation worked also to generate a variety of successful. Taskmaster Gambits which the students shared with the class.
4. Assign Rotating Roles & Develop Gambits – (Tool 1 – Roles and Gambits) –
Social Skills and Corresponding Social Roles
I. Encouraging Others ••••..•••••••••••• Encourager
2. Praising Others ••••••.•.•••.•..•..• Praiser
3. Celebrating Accomplishments ••••.• Cheerleader
4. Equalizing Participation.••.•••••••• Catekee~er
5. Helping •.••.•••••••••.••••••••..•• Coach
6. Asking for Help •••••.•.•.•••••••••. Question Commander
7. Checking for Understanding .•..•..• Checker
8. Staying on Task •••••.•••••••.•••••. Taskmaster
9. Recording Ideas•••••.• It •••••••••••• Recorder
10. Reflecting of Group Progress ••••••• Reflector
11. Not Disturbing Others ••••••••.••.• Quiet Captain
12. Efficiently Distributing Materials •.. Materials Monitor
Assign a Role-of-the-Week .associated with the Skill-of-the-Week. Each student will get a turn at the role because it rotates each day: Monday, the role is given to Student I, Tuesday, Student 2, Wednesday, Student 3, and Thursday, Student 4.
If the Skill-of-the-Week is Staying On Task, the Role-of-the-Week will be Taskmaster.
If the skill is Showing Appreciating, the role will be Praiser.
The Role of the Week is posted in the Social Skills Center, along with the gambits associated
with the role. Generate and Record Gambits. Students will not know how to fulfill their role unless they have positive models of what to do and say. Students need to know what it "Sounds Like" and "Looks Like" to fill the role well - the gambits for the role. Gambits are the verbal and non-verbal behaviors which allow role fulfillment. It is not the job of the teacher to generatethese gambits, but rather to lead students in generating and recording
the gambits. Through gambit development students learn how to solve social skill problems and how to fulfill roles, For example, if the skill is Staying on Task, the Role would. be Taskmaster, and the students and teacher would post those gambits which would facilitate being a good Taskmaster. Students learn that a good Taskmaster does not say, "Stop talking about the big game." Rather, they learn to· say, "The big game is really interesting, but if we are going to complete our project in time, we need to...." Students learn that one of the best gambits for a Taskmaster is to simply talk about the task in an interesting way. Rather than saying, "We are off task," they say, "Problem three really looks interesting. Do you think the answer could be related to ...?" Some of the techniques for generating and recording gambits follow:
*Post Gambit Chart: Once the gambits have been generated, the teacher posts them on the gambit chart in the Social Skills Center. As. new gambits are generated during the week, the teacher adds them to those initially posted when the skill was first introduced.
*Teacher Models Gambits: You may model the role· for the class. A strong strategy is to model the role correctly, then incorrectly, and have students in teams discuss the difference. For example, you might contrast weak versus strong
*Gatekeeper gambits, e.g., Weak: "John, you are talking too much; Susan, talk more." Strong: "That's interesting John; Susan, do you agree?" It is probably a good idea to finish your modeling on a positive note: End by modeling strong, positive gambits.
*A Team Models Gambits: Get one team "up on.the role" by working with them while the other teams are busy on another task. The selected team then can serve as a model to demonstrate the role. For example, you might have one team member pretend not to know how to solve a problem. and have the "Coach" model how to help a student solve a problem without doing it for him. Choose one of the weakest teams to model for the class and they will gain in status anD will acquire the role at a level they might not otherwise.
*Teacher Plays dumb: Tell students, "I have been noticing that we have beengetting off-task while working on ourprojects, so <Staying on Task' will be our next .skill of the week. But I am not so sure what you would say or do in your teams if you saw someone off task. Putyour heads together and discuss what you might say or do to get the team or ateammate back on track. What could we put on our Gambit Charts?"
- Thinking Skills Structures. Have students generate gambits for the Gambit Chart.
Structured Role Plays:One of the most powerful ways of learning new behavior or changing old behavior
is to practice the desired behavior in a context similar to the one in which the behavior
actually will be used. In China, teachers make extensive use of structured, teacher-writ
ten and directed role-plays to help students recognize and learn appropriate helping and cooperating behaviors. Through structured role-play students practice the proper response to various situations, such as returning a lost object, or asking permission to borrow something.
5. Structure for Skill (Tool 2: Structures & Structuring) Structures. Quite a number of structures are useful for skill development. For example, if students are working on the skill of Equal Participation, the structure of choice would be Talking Chips. For Praising, use Affirmation Chips.
Many times it is possible to structure a cooperative learning task so that the acquisition of social skills is an integral part of the learning experience, or necessary for task completion. Structuring for a Skill: Let's say the skill is listening. To structure for increased listening,
if the task is an essay or report about fun vacation activities, the teacher might require that each student write about the fun activities of someone else on the team. This structuring of the task
ensures that interviewing and listening skills are developed.
High v. Low Structuring
Low Structuring: "In your teams take turns, asking each person questions.»
High Structuring: "Teammate NumberI, stand up. You have exactly three minutes to be interviewed by your teammates. If you are doing the interviewing, you may ask one question, but you many not ask a second question until each of your teammates has asked
their question."
It is generally a good idea to move from high to low structuring as students acquire the social, cognitive, and linguistic skills necessary to cooperate in situations with low structuring.
Systematically destructuring for internationalization allows students to internalize cooperative skills and to become cooperative rather than just to behave cooperatively.
6. Model and Reinforce Skill (Tool 3: Modeling & Reinforcement)
The Skill-of-the-Week is modeled and reinforced in a variety of ways during the week.
By Teacher. The Social Skills Center is a reminder) not just for the students, but for the teache as welL If the Skill-of-the-Week is praising, the teacher is sure to model many forms of praising during the week. If the skill is Equal Participation) the teacher himlherselfwill use good Gatekeeping Gambits while working with the students.
To model a skill for a team or for the whole class, the teacher may briefly join a team to
model the behavior. Model Groups. If a desired behavior is not being used, a teacher may wish to work with a group on the behavior until they are proficient, and then have the team model the behaviour for the whole class.
Spontaneous Models. During the week the teacher is looking for good use of the skill.
Without formal observations, the teacher simply notes when a skill has been used well.
At that time the teacher would say something like, ((Class, I would all like you to hear what I just heard -- Johnny just used a wonderful gambit to paraphrase. He said, CIt seems to me you are saying....' Let's add that gambit to our Gambit Chart."
If you have a Social-Skill-of-the-Week, you are looking for examples of the use of that
skill to hold up as a model for the rest of the class. So, for example, if the Skill-of-theWeek is Staying on Task, you might get the attention of the class somewhere during the lesson and then say something like, eel have been watching the Astronauts for awhile, and I am really impressed how well they have been staying on task. At one point they started to talk about recess, but than got right back on task. Nice job, Astronauts! You are doing a great job at our new skill for
this week." If the skill were praising and encouraging, the teacher might say, "I just heard and saw a great praiser. Susan wpuld you please let the whole class hear what you just told Sally
and show them the silent round of applause you just gave?" "Notice how Susan smiled
and looked right at Sally as she told her what a great job she was doing."
7. Reflect on Skill (Tool 4: Reflection & Planning) Students need time to reflect on how well
they are using the Skill-of-the-Week. There are a variety of ways of promoting reflection.
*Reflection Questions
For Helping
Did I give help when asked?
Did I ask for help if I needed it?
What help was most helpful?
For Praising
What praise did I give?
What praise did I receive?
What praise felt good?
- Integration with the Social Skills Center. During the reflection time, a link is made to the Social Skills Center by asking questions like) "Look at the Gambit Chart. Did you hear or see any of those gambits so far today?» "Have you heard any new gambits today which we can add to our Gambit Charts?"
Structures for Reflection. Reflection can be facilitated by using information sharing structures such as Roundrobin (each one says one Gambit they heard or wished they had heard); Think-Pair-Share ("How much encouragement have we shown each other?); Three-Step Interview (students are interviewed on how they feel the team is doing on the Skill of the Week); and Brainstorming (students come up with ideas about how they could use the skill more).Student Self-Monitoring. Without a doubt one of the most effective ways of producing change is through self-evaluation. Having family members view themselves interact) and rate their own individual interactions on video tape is a powerful technique in family therapy -- it leads to improvement of family dynamics.
Although not many teachers have the resources to video tape individual students and teams ac and interact) and then to allow them to rate their own interactions, self-monitoring and evaluation forms may be the next best thing.
The Teammate Observer. One student on each team has the role of observer. His/her job for the day is to focus on a specific social skill such as encouragement among teammates.
The observer that day may use an observation form to mark down each instance of encouragement and its source, so that good use of that skill is recognized among teammates.
Observation Form.
Class observers. Individuals may be selected to observe the good use of gambits and skills, with the aim of fostering thoughtful reflection based on the information they provide. Sometimes you may choose individuals low on a particular skill to observe that skill, providing them useful modelling experiences. Team Observers. Occasionally a teacher may want teams as a whole to serve as observers for each other. A team may be asked to stand around another team in a
fishbowl format, with observation sheets. When the team is finished with the learning
activity, the observing team can give them input regarding the social skills under observation.
Teacher Observations. Reflection time can be facilitated by the teacher sharing an observation
- or observations regarding how well the Skill-of-the-Week is being used. Often it is best for teachers to simply share an observation and leave the teams take responsibility for what is to be done about it. For example, the teacher may simply say,
"One person in this group seems to be doing most of the talking, take a moment to talk over how well you are using your skill of Gatekeeping, and what you need to do." or, "Today, in some teams I saw people raising their hands to state the team opinion before checking for consensus with all their teammates." Teacher Time Samples. If a teacher stands by each team for one minute and records each instance of the use of a skill, after two rounds, there will be a pretty good sample of how much the skill is being used and by which groups. Time Sample forms are simple to make.Formal Reflection Forms. Although the informal reflection question focused on the
skill of the week is probably the most powerful way to promote reflection, various observation
and reflection forms can help as well. The students may fill out the forms individually and then compare answers with their teammates, or they may attempt to reach consensus as a group filling out one form for the team. Samples of typical reflection forms for various skills at various grade levels follow. Notice, the best reflection forms do not have students reflect on more than
- one skill at a time. Popular Reflection Forms which have students answer questions
about staying on task, use of quiet voices, mutual support, equal participation, andhelp giving all on one form are probably of very limited value. These forms are like having
students work on their addition, subtraction, multiplication, division, and logic skills
all at once! The power of reflection is revealed when it is an integral part of the plan
to deliver one Skill-of-the-Week.
Four Tools of The Structural Natural Approach
Tool 1: Roles & Gambits ~
Tool 2: Structures &Structuring
Tool 3: Modelling & Reinforcement
Tool 4: Reflection &Planning